Event
Magritte Museum, Rue du Musée 5, 1000 Brussels & online
25.06.2025
14:00 - 18:00

CEER Annual Conference 2025

The CEER Annual Conference 2025 brought together high-level speakers and stakeholders from across the energy sector to address key regulatory strategies and sector developments.

Held under the theme “Regulatory Strategies for Consumer Empowerment, System Integration, and Market Efficiency,” the event explored some of the most pressing energy challenges and opportunities in Europe.

Topics included:

  • Evolving energy market dynamics: balancing EU competitiveness and consumer protection amid price volatility and global trends
  • Infrastructure challenges and opportunities: grid investments, hydrogen backbone, sector coupling
  • Ensuring the independence of energy regulators: tackling key challenges and highlighting CEER’s efforts to uphold NRA independence

The programme featured expert panels, interviews, and interactive sessions with participants from European institutions, national regulators, industry, and consumer organisations.

Programme
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Documents
12.12.2024

Agenda

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Programme

14:00 - 14:15

Opening Remarks

Speakers

Annegret Groebel

Annegret Groebel

President, CEER
Biography
Annegret Groebel
President, CEER

Dr Annegret Groebel is Director of International Relations at the German Regulatory Authority for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA). Dr Groebel has worked for BNetzA since 1998. She has been CEER President since January 2019 and was a Vice President of CEER since 2012. She also has chaired the CEER Market Integrity and Transparency (MIT) Working Group since 2013. She is a member of the Board of Regulators of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). Dr Groebel has a PhD in Economics from the University of Mannheim. She is also involved in the work of the Independent Regulators Group (IRG) and the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).

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14:15 - 14:35

Keynote Speeches

Speakers

Christian Stenberg

Christian Stenberg

Deputy Permanent Secretary, Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities
Mechthild Wörsdörfer

Mechthild Wörsdörfer

Deputy Director General, DG ENER, European Commission
14:35 - 15:45

Panel I: Efficient Energy Markets and Consumer Empowerment

Setting the scene (historical context): A short note by CEER Electricity Working Group Chair Christine Materazzi-Wagner & Customer and Retail Market Working Group Co-Chair Karen Trant – interactive exchange

Speakers

Agustín Reyna

Agustín Reyna

Director General, BEUC, The European Consumer Organisation
Christine Materazzi-Wagner

Christine Materazzi-Wagner

Electricity Working Group Chair, ACER/CEER
Biography
Christine Materazzi-Wagner
Electricity Working Group Chair, ACER/CEER

Christine Materazzi-Wagner is a graduated electrical engineer and working in the energy sector for more than 25 years. From 2011 to present, she is Director of Electricity at E-Control. Since 2019 she chairs the regulators ACER and CEER Electricity Working Group tackling the regulatory issues of for example, system operation, network development, market integration and adequacy.

Before joining E-Control, Christine covered engineering, development cooperation, research and management consulting tasks, also dealing with power generation, renewables and smart grids.

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Cillian O’Donoghue

Cillian O’Donoghue

Policy Director, Eurelectric
Karen Trant

Karen Trant

Customer and Retail Market Working Group Co-Chair, CEER
Natalie McCoy

Natalie McCoy

Co-Chair of the Customers and Retail Market Working Group, CEER
Biography
Natalie McCoy
Co-Chair of the Customers and Retail Market Working Group, CEER

Ms McCoy joined Portugal’s Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) in 2016 to lead its international relations. Prior to ERSE, she served as Secretary General of the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) between 2011 and 2015.

In addition to her responsibilities at ERSE, Natalie co-chairs the CEER Customers and Retail Markets Working Group, following three years as vice chair. She also co-chairs the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) Retail Working Group, established in 2021.

In parallel, she serves as co-chair of CEER’s Gas Decarbonisation Legislation Workstream, since September 2016. Natalie has more than fourteen years’ experience in energy regulation, focusing on customer rights, regulatory governance and electricity and gas market design. With an academic background in political science and EU affairs, she worked at the European Parliament prior to moving into energy regulation.

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Rosalinde van der Vlies

Rosalinde van der Vlies

Director Just Transition, Consumers, Energy Efficiency and Innovation, DG Energy, European Commission
16:15 - 16:35

Interview – Energy Regulators’ Independence

Speakers

Duška Godina

Duška Godina

Director of the Energy Agency, AGEN - Slovenian NRA
Leonardo Meeus

Leonardo Meeus

Director, Florence School of Regulation
Biography
Leonardo Meeus
Director, Florence School of Regulation

Leonardo Meeus is a professor at the European University Institute. He is the Director of the Florence School of Regulation and the Loyola de Palacio Chair in the Robert Schuman Centre. He is also part-time professor at the KU Leuven.

Leonardo contributed as author, reviewer and editor to academic journals in energy economics, regulatory economics, engineering, law, operations research and management. He published the open access book “The Evolution of Electricity Markets in Europe”.

He also engages with decision makers to create impact, and blogs about his experience.

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Oliver Koch

Oliver Koch

Deputy Head of Unit, Internal Market Unit, DG ENER, European Commission
16:35 - 17:45

Panel II: Energy Infrastructure

Setting the scene (historical context): A short note by CEER Vice President, Gas Working Group Chair Pedro Verdelho & Chair of the CEER Distribution Systems Working Group Veli-Pekka Saajo – interactive exchange

Speakers

Catharina Sikow-Magny

Catharina Sikow-Magny

Professor, Florence School of Regulation
Christian Zinglersen

Christian Zinglersen

Director, ACER
Gerald Kaendler

Gerald Kaendler

System Development Chair, ENTSO-E
Pedro Verdelho

Pedro Verdelho

Vice President, Gas Working Group Chair, CEER
Biography
Pedro Verdelho
Vice President, Gas Working Group Chair, CEER

Pedro Verdelho is the President of the Portuguese Energy Regulatory Authority (ERSE). He previously served as the Director of ERSE’s Pricing and Tariffs Division.

With more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector, Mr Verdelho is deeply involved in European regulatory cooperation. He has served as Vice-President of CEER since 2021 and has chaired the Gas Working Groups of both CEER and the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) since 2019.

Mr Verdelho is also actively involved in other international regulatory cooperation platforms, including the Mediterranean Energy Regulators (MEDREG), where he chairs MEDREG’s Renewables Working Group, and the Ibero-American Association of Energy Regulators (ARIAE), where he leads the Gas Working Group.

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Piotr Kuś

Piotr Kuś

General Director, ENTSOG
Veli-Pekka Saajo

Veli-Pekka Saajo

Vice President, Chair of the Distribution Systems Working Group, CEER
Wolfgang Urbantschitsch

Wolfgang Urbantschitsch

Executive Director, E-Control
Biography
Wolfgang Urbantschitsch
Executive Director, E-Control

Dr Urbantschitsch is the Executive Director of the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Energy. Since 2013 he has been Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Energy Community. From 2001 until 2016, he was Head of the Legal Department of E-Control.

From 2011 until 2016, he was a Member of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) Board of Appeal.

Before joining E-Control, Mr Urbantschitsch worked as a legal advisor at the Austrian Federal Constitutional Court, the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Telecommunication and as a research assistant.

Dr Urbantschitsch is the author of numerous publications on energy law as well as constitutional and administrative law. In addition, he is a lecturer at universities and other institutions.

He obtained his doctoral degree at the University of Graz/Austria.

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17:45 - 17:55

Keynote Speech – Highlights from history of CEER

Speakers

Jorge Vasconcelos

Jorge Vasconcelos

Co-Founder and first chairman, CEER
17:55 - 18:00

Closing Remarks

Speakers

Alda Ozola

Alda Ozola

Vice President, CEER
Biography
Alda Ozola
Vice President, CEER

Ms. Alda Ozola has been serving as a chair of the Public Utilities Commission in Latvia since July 2021. As a chair of multi-sector regulator, she focuses on dynamic regulation that would foster energy transition towards climate neutrality.

From 2013 until 2021 she was a Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development with primary areas of responsibility being climate policy and sustainability, environmental protection and biodiversity.

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Dietmar Preinstorfer

Dietmar Preinstorfer

Vice President, CEER